BCCI State Units Reach Consensus on 19-member Apex Council

There is good news on the anvil for the Indian cricket board's affiliated state units as their apex council composition is likely to be increased to 19 members, compared to the 9-member team of the BCCI.

With around 29 out of 36 units becoming Lodha Compliant, it is learnt that majority of them have come on board to build consensus about a few modifications that Amicus Curiae PS Narsimha is expected to submit to the Supreme Court on Thursday.

During their meeting with the Amicus, most of the BCCI affiliated units had expressed their "practical difficulty" on having an apex council, which is a "mirror image" of the BCCI's governing body.

As per the Lodha Committee recommendation, the BCCI apex council will comprise nine members -- the president, vice president, secretary, joint secretary, treasurer, two players' representative (male and female), CAG representative, one member from state unit.

However, with most state units having different voter composition, the contentious issue is now on the verge of being sorted.

“The amicus has been meeting all the state associations who have filed ‘Interim Applications’ over the last few weeks. We were apprised about the meetings as well. As informed by him, we now have 29 state associations who are prepared to be fully-compliant to Lodha reforms, up from 12-13 associations that we had last month. They are also on board that 19 is good number for Apex Council," CoA member Ravi Thodge told CricketNext earlier this week.

A BCCI official told PTI that advocate Narasimha was very "co-operative" and acknowledged that apex council is an issue.

"The CoA and the Amicus agree that states units are the ones promoting the game in the country. An association like DDCA which constitutes individual members has a different fabric compared to Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) which has institutional voting. So it couldn't have been a 9 member Apex Council," the official said.

It is learnt that Karnataka wanted it to be 26 but have now come around and agreed to the proposed 19 (16 elected plus two players' representative and one CAG representative).

It is learnt that units like Vidarbha Cricket Association, which was one of the earliest to adopt new constitution, will get a chance to change the composition of its apex council.

"Vidarbha's apex council has nine members and they have the provision of increasing it to 19 now," the official said.

Most of the state units have requested the Amicus to "speed up the election process" so that a democratically elected body can take over.

It was learnt that even Tamil Nadu Cricket Association is "substantially compliant" even though it has a few persisting issues.

"The discussion between Amicus and Tamil Nadu CA was positive. TNCA has a few issues primarily related to age cap and tenure of office bearers. However the Amicus has told them that if the August 9, 2018 judgment by the CJI bench is changed, Lodha recommendation will collapse."

It was learnt that even Haryana CA, which has been perceived as obstructionist among state units, has also been forthcoming in its only meeting with the Amicus.

"Haryana CA had one meeting with the Amicus and it went off well. There was a second meeting that was supposed to take place but didn't happen. However they have been forthcoming in their views and told the Amicus that they will get back after consultation with their governing body members," the official said.